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Topic: Zimmerman's Two Flashlights (Read 11479 times)

According to the Ridgeline manual, a chime sounds if you remove the key from the ignition switch and open the door with the headlights on (pg. 77); a reminder beeper sounds if you open the door with the ignition key in ignition switch in the LOCK or the ACCESSORY position (pg. 82). The sound on the NEN call is what I'd call a chime, not a beeper.

I was directed to a transcript of the GZ NEN call to look at something else and the transcript I used was one from a user that had decoded various sounds he could discern. In that transcript, he attributes GZ saying that he left his keys in his vehicle when describing where it was parked. The operator was talking over him, so many transcripts don't have this statement, but when I listened to the call, it sounds like thats what he said.

Do you have a link to the transcript? I thought you were referring to the one mentioned previously on TalkLeft, but that says nothing but "crosstalk: unintelligible." I've listened to that section in a loop hundreds of time, and I can't figure out what Zimmerman says. I still wonder if anyone in the media has asked if the two sides of the call are recorded on separate channels.

From the evidence log entry, that key was the only one on the chain. That suggests a spare key.

I have only keys to my car on my key ring. I never use my keys to my house though I have a set. I come and go through the garage. I find that most people who have auto garage door openers do the same. There really is no need for a house key.

I have only keys to my car on my key ring. I never use my keys to my house though I have a set. I come and go through the garage. I find that most people who have auto garage door openers do the same. There really is no need for a house key.

I live in a area with enough power outages to keep my house/car on the same ring

I live in a area with enough power outages to keep my house/car on the same ring

I have a touch pad dead bolt for my exteriors doors. Well worth the money, IMO. I am terrible with keys. I have a skinny kitchen drawer with keys I no longer know what they go to. I struck gold with a padlock key I needed but I bet I went thru 10 of them looking. LOL.

One of the false assumptions people make is that because a Honda key was found near the T, it must be THE key to GZ's truck. AFAIK, it has not been reported what that key actually fits. My guess is that it's a spare key to Shellie's Honda sedan. I believe the proper way to look at it is a flashlight that just happens to have a key attached, not vice versa. GZ would have grabbed it when leaving the house because he knew his other flashlight was unreliable.

I have spent considerable time breaking down the phrase. "They'll see my truck: the keys are in the ignition." using an audio editor, isolating the syllables and so on. I am positive that's indeed what GZ says, and he is speaking to Sean (not to some 'accomplice' as the conspiracy buffs imagine). I can say with even greater certainty that the phrase is NOT anything else people have proposed. He certainly does NOT say the words "Honda" or "Ridgeline" or anything of the sort.

Why did GZ report this? Who knows? My guess is that by that time he was far enough from the truck that he expected the arriving officer to get there before he would, and his purpose was not so much to identify the truck (though that may have been part of it) as to ward off the officer having any thoughts of something being amiss if they found the truck with the keys in it — like 'the keys are here, but where's the driver?'.

I think he left the keys in the truck absent-mindedly as he hurried off to follow TM once he saw the youngster running away. He wouldn't have worried about some "asshole" stealing the truck because his intent was to maintain surveillance on the only "asshole" he thought was around.

Thanks for this analysis which I think is helpful, but I still don't think it gives us all of the answers we need. I don't know if I can make out for sure that GZ is saying his keys are in his ignition, but I almost certainly here the word "keys". I have a feeling the flashlight key chain and key found dropped near the 'T' wasn't the one from his Ridgeline, but I have seen nothing in evidence stating it is or isn't. I thought maybe I missed it, but apparently, it hasn't been revealed.

It could be GZ left the keys in the SUV on purpose to keep the headlights from automatically shutting off, putting as much light no the 'T" area as possible. Could also be why he'd mention the keys were still in it to explain why police might arrive to an empty SUV with its headlights on. Of course why not just say, the headlights are on? To answer my own question, he was talking at the same time as Sean, so maybe he was going to continue with that, but Sean was talking. Do we know if his headlights were on when police arrived? IF GZ new his keys were in his SUV and left the lights on for the purpose of illumination the 'T' area, it would be circumstantial evidence that he never planned to leave that area. Obviously, its not proof that he never did.

One of the false assumptions people make is that because a Honda key was found near the T, it must be THE key to GZ's truck. AFAIK, it has not been reported what that key actually fits. My guess is that it's a spare key to Shellie's Honda sedan. I believe the proper way to look at it is a flashlight that just happens to have a key attached, not vice versa. GZ would have grabbed it when leaving the house because he knew his other flashlight was unreliable.

I'm really not understanding why this is relevant unless you want to try and build an argument that GZ believed he would have a need for a working flashlight that night. I'm also not sure why it matters if it was the key to his truck or Shellie's vehicle.

As I mentioned, if you leave the key in a Ridgeline's ignition in the locked or accessory position, a beeper sounds when you open the front door. If you leave the lights on when the key is not in the ignition, a chime sounds when you open the front door. The sound on the NEN call is a chime.